Cultural Landmarks and Urban Landscapes in Three Contrasting Societies

Jiquan Chen,Li Tian,Zutao Ouyang,Raffaele Lafortezza,Peilei Fan,Hogeun Park

doi:10.3390/su13084295

Abstract

Cultural heritage sites and landscapes are intuitively connected in urban systems. Based on available databases of cultural landmarks, we selected three pairs of cities that are currently dominated by three contrasting religions (Catholic, Buddhist and emerging culture) to compare the long-term changes in cultural landmarks, to quantify their spatial distribution in the current landscape, and to examine the potential influences these landmarks have on landscapes. The landmark database and landscapes were constructed from archived maps, satellite imagery and the UNESCO heritage sites for Barcelona, Bari, Beijing, Vientiane, Shenzhen, and Ulaanbaatar. Roads in Asian cities are mostly constructed in alignment with the four cardinal directions, forming a checkerboard-type landscape, whereas Bari and Barcelona in Europe have examples of roads radiating from major cultural landmarks. We found clear differences in the number of landmarks and surrounding landscape in these cities, supporting our hypothesis that current urban landscapes have been influenced similarly by cultural landmarks, although substantial differences exist among cities. Negative relationships between the number of cultural landmarks and major cover types were found, except with agricultural lands. Clearly, cultural landmarks need to be treated as “natural features” and considered as reference points in urban planning. Major efforts are needed to construct a global database before an overarching conclusion can be made for global cities.

Highlights

Cultural Landmarks in Urban LandscapesBefore dawn on 23 June 2015, we climbed up to the top of Shwesandaw Pagoda in the east side of Bagan, Myanmar, to observe the breathtaking sunrise on this sacred landscape, featuring an exceptional range of Buddhist art and architecture (Figure 1)
As cities vary in design and installation of cultural landmarks in their urban landscapes, this study focuses on comparisons of cities with current dominancy of Catholic and Buddhist/Daoism religion/culture, as well as emerging cities with limited religious architecture (e.g., Shenzhen in China, Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia)
Roads in all six cities are mostly constructed in alignment with the four cardinal directions, forming a checkerboard-type landscape, but Bari and Barcelona have examples of roads that radiate from major landmarks, often with more than four avenues extending from a focal point, resulting in many spider web-type irregular mosaics (Figure 3)

Summary

Introduction

Before dawn on 23 June 2015, we climbed up to the top of Shwesandaw Pagoda in the east side of Bagan, Myanmar, to observe the breathtaking sunrise on this sacred landscape, featuring an exceptional range of Buddhist art and architecture (Figure 1). It is notable that the vegetation around each pagoda is well protected, likely due to the Buddhist beliefs among locals; modern urban infrastructure (e.g., buildings, paved roads, etc.) is completely absent, and agricultural lands account for a small fraction of the landscape. We conducted a semi-structured interview with three government officials and four community representatives at the Urban Planning Committee of Bagan. 575 km , one of the World Heritage Cities—a request that was granted some four years. 575 km, one of the World Heritage Cities—a request that was granted some four years later accessed February 2021)

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Conclusion